When you ride your bike, do you feel too stretched out and too bent over? Are your rides limited by neck cramp, shoulder strain, or back pain? Is the stem on your bike long and more or less level with the ground? Then maybe you need a lift. A shorter stem with a high rise has brought me relief on longer rides. I no longer suffer chronic neck and shoulder pain because I’m not reaching too far out nor bending too far down to reach the grips. I’m most comfortable when I’m bent forward only a bit when cruising, which places my hands on a line a little above my hips. To achieve this, I put a short, high stem on each of my bikes to raise the handlebars a little higher than the saddles. Here’s the stem on my Surly LHT, photographed from each side and from aft:

It’s a Dimension road stem, 75mm long and with a 125-degree rise. That’s about as short and steep as is commonly found. Here’s a photo of the whole bike:

My 42cm LHT has a sloping top tube, and the bike is level. Note that the handlebars are a couple inches higher than the saddle. Of course more goes into proper bike fit than the length and angle of a stem. But for a modest cost, the correct stem can customize an off-the-peg bike and tailor the fit to make it just right for you.

 
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